Myth buster project

1. THE CASE OF TAMMY
HOMOLKA
Mythbuster by Nakira Seymour

2. GETTING TO THE FACTS
• In the year 1957, seventeen year old Karla Homolka met twenty-three year old Paul
Bernardo.
• Before meeting Homolka, Bernardo had already been involved in many sexual
assault encounters.
• The two participated in at least three known assaults and murders as a couple.
• In the case that tried the two lovers, Karla took a plea bargain to testify against
Bernardo to receive a lesser sentence.

3. “THE KEN AND BARBIE MURDERS”
• October 17th ,1987- Karla Homolka and Paul Bernardo meet.
• December 24th ,1989- The pair get engaged
• December 24th ,1990- Tammy Homolka dies
• June 15th ,1991- Leslie Mahaffy goes missing
• June 29th ,1991- Karla and Paul get married
• April 16th ,1992- Kristen French goes missing
• Summer of 1992- Paul physically abuses Karla
• January 1993- The couple separates due to the abuse

4. TAMMY HOMOLKA
• Born on January 1st ,1975, Tammy Homolka was the
younger sister and first victim of convicted person Karla
Homolka
• Bernardo is said to have always had sexual desires
toward tammy according to ex wife Karla Homolka
• Homolka states that Bernardo was bothered by the fact
that she was not a virgin when the two of them met
• In exchange for her lost innocence she offered her
husband her younger sister’s purity as a “Christmas gift”
• On Christmas Eve 1990 after a house party, Karla and
Paul led Tammy down to the basement where they gave
her drinks containing an animal sedative (Halothane). As
Tammy is unconscious, the pair begin to rape her on
camera. Tammy soon awakens, begins to choke on her
own vomit and eventually dies. The couple attempt to
revive Tammy but fail and hide evidence to then call the
police. At that time, her death is concluded accidental.

5. LESLIE MAHAFFY
• Born on July 5th 1976, Leslie Mahaffy was a Ontario
resident and another victim of Bernardo and
Homolka.
• Leslie, 14 at the time was abducted from near her
home on the night of June 15th 1991.
• She was taken back the home of Homokla, raped
and tortured befor being strangled to death the
next day.
• Her body was mutilated into numerous pieces,
encased in cement and thrown in =to a nearby
lake.

6. KRISTEN FRENCH
• Born on May 10th ,1976 in Canada, 15
year old high school athlete Kristen
French was yet another innocent teen
who feel victim to Paul Bernardo and
Karla Homolka
• On April 16th 1992, on her way home
from her catholic school Kristen was
lured and kidnapped by the couple
• She was then taken back to their little
pink house, raped and tortured, forced
into sexual slavery.
• She was their longest reported abused
victim.
• After 3 days of torture and refusing to
do any further sex acts saying “Some
things are worth dying for” she was
finally strangling to death and buried in
a ditch whole.
• Her body was not found until April 30th
of the same year.

7. FORENSIC SCIENCE
• Involved in a chain of assaults prior to his marriage to Homlka, the Centre of Forensic
Sciences matched Bernardo’s DNA to that of the Scarborough Rapist.
• In the Paul Bernardo trial, forensic entomologist Dr. Neal Haskell helped establish a timeline
for one of the victim’s murders. Haskell used his understanding of insect development cycles
to narrow a fifteen day time interval down to a period of four days for the victim’s time of
death.
• Had forensic pathology been conducted properly, examiners would have concluded the
cause of the chemical burn left on Tammy Homolka’s face from the substance used to
sedate her. Her death may not have been initially ruled an accident.
• Forensic scientists collected the severed body parts of Leslie Mahaffy and the body of Kristen
French, analyzed the corpses finding similar trama and eventually connected the murders for
the first time.

8. UNDER THE LAW
• On February 19 1993, a search warrant was conducted in the home of the killers
• During the initial search, the police did not find the hidden recordings of the killings of the
teenagers.
• Three months later in May Bernardo’s lawyer with the help of his client went to the house in
which the murders were conducted and retrieved the incriminating tapes and held them in
his possession for 16 months before submitting them to the law.
• These tapes were played in their entirety for the jury and judge.
• In July of 1993, Homolka plea guilty to two accounts of manslaughter with a sentencing of
12 years in exchange for her testimony against Paul Bernardo.
• In September of 1995, Bernardo was convicted of the nine charges against him those of
which include two first degree murder charges and is sentenced to life in prison
• Homolka was released on Independence Day of 2005.
• Bernardo remains imprisoned.

9. DEFINITIONS
• Forensic Science-the application of scientific principles and techniques to matters of criminal
justice especially as relating to the collection, examination, and analysis of physical evidence
• Plea Bargain-to participate in a process in which a person who is accused of a crime is allowed to
say that he or she is guilty of a less serious crime in order to be given a less severe punishment
• Testify-to make a solemn declaration under oath for the purpose of establishing a fact (as in a
court)
• Sexual Assault-illegal sexual contact that usually involves force upon a person without consent or
is inflicted upon a person who is incapable of giving consent (as because of age or physical or
mental incapacity) or who places the assailant (such as a doctor) in a position of trust or authority
• Sedative-tending to calm, moderate, or tranquilize nervousness or excitement
• Forensic Entomology- deals with the collection of arthropodic evidence and its application, and
through a series of tests and previously set of rules, general admissibility of said evidence is
determined.

10. CITATIONS
• http://thechive.com/2015/10/16/canadian-killers-part-ii-be-warned-the-details-are-
graphic-and-brutal-28-photos/
• http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/key-events-in-the-bernardo-homolka-case-
1.933128
• https://darkerinthelight.wordpress.com/tag/tammy-homolka/
• https://www.merriam-webster.com/
• http://www.liquisearch.com/forensic_entomology_and_the_law
• http://www.newsweek.com/sex-death-and-videotape-183314
• http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/paul-bernardo-and-karla-
homolka-case/